By Brandon T. McClure
In June of 2022, the Jurassic franchise ended for a second time. Capping off the Jurassic World trilogy was Jurassic World: Dominion: a film that brought back the heroes from both trilogies to uncover the mystery around BioSyn’s involvement in a swarm of prehistoric locusts that have been plaguing the United States. Marketed as the end of the franchise, Jurassic World: Dominion made over $1 billion in the post-pandemic box office (a rarer achievement than before), which meant it wouldn’t be the end forever. Now it’s been officially confirmed that a new entry is in the works and heading full steam to its July 2, 2025 release date.
The age of the “never-ending franchise” continues as The Hollywood Reporter and the official Jurassic World Twitter account exclusively revealed that a new entry in the Jurassic franchise is in the works. THR reported that original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp is returning to write this new entry. Koepp’s involvement in the franchise ended with the 1996 sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park and has been regularly working with Steven Spielberg. His more recent screen credits include the two Indiana Jones sequels, The Mummy (The Tom Cruise one), and Kimi. Many on the internet hope Koepp’s return will herald a “back to basics” approach to the franchise or perhaps a full reboot. None of these approaches have been confirmed at this time, however, the script is far enough along that production will most likely ramp up by the summer.
When the Jurassic franchise returned in 2015 with Colin Trevorrow at the helm, Universal was upfront in its desire to launch a new trilogy of films. Because of its $1.67 Billion success, that desire easily became a reality. Trevorrow would become the most prolific creator in the franchise, co-writing all three big screen entries and directing two of them, Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Dominion (also a short film called Battle at Big Rock). He also produced the Netflix animated series Jurassic World: Campe Cretaceous and its upcoming sequel series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory which follows a group of kids during the events of the films.
But, outside of what is likely a minor involvement in Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Trevorrow has left the franchise. Most likely feeling that three billion dollar grossing films was enough. Long-time producers of the franchise Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, and, of course, Steven Spielberg are all returning, however. Spielberg's involvement is not surprising since he’s been a producer on every entry. While creatively, he hasn’t been too involved since the second film, he prefers to keep a close eye on the franchise he launched in 1993. Internally this new film is being described as a “new Jurassic era” that will tell an all-new story.
Currently, no director is attached, but with an ambitious release date, Universal is eager to find one. Deadline reported that Universal was in talks with David Leitch to direct this new entry. Leitch was a stunt performer before turning to directed and launched his own successful franchise with Chad Stahelski, John Wick. Since then, Leitch has directed purely action films like Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, and Atomic Blonde. He’s currently ramping up for the release of his latest feature, The Fall Guy for Universal Studios. Leitch seems to have a good relationship with Universal Studios since he directed Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw for them in 2019. He and his partner Kelly McCormick currently have a first-look deal with them, which is likely why he’s on their radar for Jurassic Park/World. But talks broke down. Universal is reportedly looking for someone to quickly shoot the film rather than someone with creative input. One source told THR that “there’s not enough time to work with new ideas.” Pre-production is far enough that Universal doesn’t believe another creator's input is necessary, so this will make the search for one a little difficult going forward.
The end of the second Jurassic World film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom saw the dinosaurs freed from the confines of their island and able to roam the world freely. Striking visuals of various Dinosaurs in populated locations became instantly iconic. But Jurassic World: Dominion seemed wholly uninterested in playing with this new status quo. The film, instead, decided to tell a story about BioSyn (InGen’s competitor from the book making their first film debut) sending prehistoric locusts out into the world to eat various crops and cause a food shortage that only they could fix. There was admittedly more to the bloated plotline of the final film, but the bottom line is that it left people interested in seeing a world interact with dinosaurs disappointed, for the most part.
While the Jurassic franchise has been divisive since it returned in 2015, the general audience still led the three films to make over $3 Billion collectively. Some fans may be disappointed to hear this, but there’s no way the new film would ignore the previous three. Not only that but a new installment is releasing this year with Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. This new show is a sequel series to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and seems to be set around the time of Jurassic World: Dominion. All signs point to Universal being interested in continuing the world as it was left in the final film, regardless of whether it will be a “new story.” In this instance, a new story could just mean that it will be unrelated to the characters seen in prior films. Indeed, it’s been wildly reported that Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and the original trilogy cast are not being asked to return and reprise their roles.
It doesn’t seem to make sense that this new film will be a “back to basics” approach, even though Koepp’s involvement appears to imply one. If this new film is a continuation of Jurassic World: Dominion then this could finally be the film that tackles the narrative potential of seeing a world having to readapt to dinosaurs living among them. Being free from Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, also allows the filmmakers to tell a new story with new characters while playing in the sandbox that was left for them. While it seems a little silly that we’re staring down the barrel of a seventh installment, David Koepp at the helm suggests that the reports of its extinction were greatly exaggerated.